Full counting statistics of laser excited Rydberg aggregates in a one-dimensional geometry

Understand

We experimentally study the full counting statistics of few-body Rydberg aggregates excited from a quasi-one-dimensional Rydberg gas.

• We measure asymmetric excitation spectra and increased second and third order statistical moments of the Rydberg number distribution, from which we determine the average aggregate size.
• Direct comparisons with numerical simulations reveal the presence of liquid-like spatial correlations, and indicate sequential growth of the aggregates around an initial grain.
• These findings demonstrate the importance of dissipative effects in strongly correlated Rydberg gases and introduce a way to study spatio-temporal correlations in strongly-interacting many-body quantum systems without imaging.